By Tiernan Ray

I'm at CES Unveiled, which serves as the annual staging ground for journalists at the Consumer Electronics Show. As they mill around the ballroom at the Mandalay Bay, eating free shrimp and as much free booze as they like, they have the opportunity to kick the tires on some of the gadgets that will appear on the floor of the Las Vegas Convention Center when it opens on Tuesday.

Health is a big topic this year. Among the connected gadgets are a spoon and a fork from Hapilabs, of Key Biscayne, Florida, each costing $99, that will surprise you with a buzzing vibration if you raise the implement to your lips too frequently. It's meant to help you cut down on your weight gain by slowing your eating, and also defray adverse gastrointestinal phenomena. The spoon or fork connect via Bluetooth to the Web to record all your eating, and Hapi providers a coaching service to help you meet fitness goals.

Among the many exhibitors showing off renewable or clean energy approaches was Eton, which makes rugged, solar power speakers you can take with you on your next trip.

Right next to Eton is GoalZero, which makes consumer solar panel kits. In the picture, you can see a small battery pack that sells with its own solar panel. You can juice up the panel during the day time and then detach the battery and take it with you.

It will give you one full recharge of your smartphone, for example, or about halfway recharge your tablet computer. It sells for $129. A larger pack, weighing in at 1 lb, will recharge your tablet completely, or give you about 3 or 4 times recharge of your laptop computer, for $509.99.

Lilliputian's fuel-cell backup battery will charge laptops and gadgets for weeks before replacing the cartridge.

If solar is not your thing, Lilliputian Systems, a venture spun out of research at MIT, was showing off the $299 fuel-cell powered backup battery it developed for Brookstone. The pocket-size device, which goes on sale this summer, but which can be pre-ordered this week, gives you two to three weeks' worth of change for your gadgets before you need to purchase another fuel cell cartridge for $9.99.

If you can't wait for Google's (GOOG) Google Glass project for wearable tech, there's Vuzix, of Rochester, NY, which was showing off its headset prototype that displays whatever is on your smartphone screen. It also has a camera so that if you jump off a building, the final moments can be captured for posterity. The device is expected to retail for “under $500,” a representative said. The model shown at Unveiled was not a working model. However, the company will show a working model on the show floor this week, they said. It's expected to become available this summer.

About Tech Trader Daily

Tech Trader Daily is a blog on technology investing written by Barron’s veteran Tiernan Ray. The blog provides news, analysis and original reporting on events important to investors in software, hardware, the Internet, telecommunications and related fields. Comments and tips can be sent to: techtraderdaily@barrons.com.